As July comes to a close, it’s time for MLQ’s first official diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) update.

In June, we released immediate actions that we are working toward in an effort to improve our DEI efforts. One of those actions was providing monthly, public updates on our efforts moving forward. We also announced that we would team up with USQ to further DEI within our sport not just within each individual league, but across quidditch in the U.S.

PILLARS FOR DEI WORK

As noted in USQ’s DEI July update, we have identified seven pillars for our DEI work. These pillars are based off of the main points and key takeaways from the MLQ and USQ town halls. These pillars will help guide and define the focus areas for action items both leagues will take moving forward:

• Equity: Ensuring the fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for all people, while at the same time striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups. The principle of equity acknowledges that there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations and that fairness regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to assist in the provision of adequate opportunities to all groups.
• Inclusion: The act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported and valued as a fully participating member. An inclusive and welcoming climate embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people.
• Leadership: The development of leaders in the quidditch community with a focus on uplifting the experiences of marginalized groups.
• Learning Opportunities: The creation of training and educational modules that foster a broader awareness of the experiences of marginalized groups as well as providing tools to put actions in place that create an inclusive environment. 
• Recruitment/Retention: The process of actively welcoming members from marginalized groups into the sport, while also fixing problems and challenges that block their continued participation. 
• Spotlight: The creation of social media and PR campaigns that focus attention on the experiences of marginalized groups.
• Safety: The creation of an environment in which everyone feels comfortable in expressing themselves and participating fully, without fear of attack, harassment, ridicule or denial of experience. This includes in-person and online spaces, and activites/programs that take place on and off the field.

To better understand and learn more about the terminology around DEI initiatives and programs, you can read this glossary of common terms from the University of Washington.

In addition to identifying the aforementioned pillars, MLQ has also completed or made substantial progress on a number of the actions laid out in our June update. Below we will go into some of those updates by department.

PEOPLE OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT

On July 10, our people operations department began issuing a brief, optional three-question survey to all MLQ volunteer applicants providing them with the opportunity to identify their race, gender and pronouns. The purpose of this survey is to provide our people operations team with a better understanding of who is applying for MLQ roles. This data will be incorporated into our future DEI section of the website. 

MLQ also added another person of color to our director team this month: People Operations Director Jamie Lafrance. While the hiring of Lafrance increases the representation of racialized people at our leadership table, we recognize that this increase in diversity is only one step forward, and hope to further improve the diversity of this team as MLQ grows. We currently have three director openings. If you or someone you know would be a good fit, head over to our volunteer page to read up on our open roles.

As his first project as director, Lafrance has begun drafting a BIPOC leadership clause—similar to the preexisting Coleman Clause and in a similar vein to that of the NFL’s Rooney Rule—that will apply to each MLQ franchise beginning in 2021. We hope to have the final version available to the public by the end of August. 

“The Coleman Clause has proven to be a successful and effective tool to promote and give equitable access to coaching positions for women and individuals outside of the gender binary in our community. In an effort to promote greater racial diversity amongst franchise management and coaching staff, the People Ops and DEI teams have begun work on a similar clause,” Lafrance said. “As the new People Operations Director, I am looking forward to working with the different MLQ departments and franchises to provide leadership opportunities to all qualified individuals.”

Lastly, DEI Strategist Ben Abbas, Lead DEI Strategist Christian Barnes and Gameplay Project Manager Josh Mansfield have been hard at work researching different online curriculums and training platforms in order to determine how MLQ can and should best incorporate anti-racism and anti-oppression training into our league. The aim is to require all franchise leadership, officials, MLQ volunteers and staff—including directors—to participate in some form of anti-racism and anti-oppression training each season.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION DEPARTMENT

Our people operations team added to the MLQ DEI Department by hiring four strategists with varied backgrounds, passions and skill sets: Dana Dixon, Ben Abbas, Max Klaw and Mitch Usis. They join our June hires: Barnes and James Hicks. New listings have been posted for additional strategists and an MLQ Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Lead DEI Strategist Barnes led the MLQ and USQ BIPOC town halls alongside USQ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator Brandi Cannon last month in one of his first moves in the role. The goal of the town halls was to establish action items for USQ and MLQ to implement. We posted their key findings in a recap here. Feedback received at the town halls will influence all MLQ projects moving forward.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion is not only putting out fires, but planting seeds for the future. I have been excited to put in the work gathering thoughts from the community and churning into a path forward for this work,” Barnes said.

Our DEI team would also like to use these updates each month to highlight a different organization that you can give time or money to in order to increase DEI within our larger society. This month’s organization, selected by the MLQ DEI team, is For the Gworls.

On July 4, 2019, Asanni Armon threw a party to raise money for two friends who needed help paying rent. When it worked, Armon decided to use the model to help even more people. Their collective, For the Gworls, was born.

For the Gworls raises money on behalf of Black Transgender people to help them pay for rent and gender-affirming surgeries. In the wake of Covid-19, Armon has also raised money for travel to and from medical facilities as well as co-pay assistance.

You can donate to For the Gworls’ various efforts at this link.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Last month, the MLQ Athlete Advancement Program announced the addition of a BIPOC grant available to MLQ athletes of color. Applications will open prior to each season and be reviewed (with names redacted) and selected by a committee composed of MLQ DEI Department volunteers. The number of grants available will be determined by off-season fundraising efforts. 

We opened a form upon announcement in which donors could commit to give for the 2021 season.  At this time, donors have committed to $550. We have set a goal of $3,000 in commitments by Sept. 1. If you would like to help fund the MAAP BIPOC Grant, you can fill out this form.

GAMEPLAY AND EVENTS DEPARTMENTS

As promised, the MLQ Events Department has updated all RFPs to require potential bidders to provide the racial demographic of the bidding city and/or county. Events has also been working with the MLQ DEI Department to collect opinions from BIPOC members of our community on which locations they would like to travel to for the MLQ Championship. MLQ will be participating in a sports conference this August and has specifically sought out discussions with the cities requested in these discussions with BIPOC athletes and volunteers.

In order to properly exhibit the racial and gender diversity we strive to obtain, MLQ Events Director Emily Hickmott and DEI Lead Strategist Barnes have also set the following minimum requirement that must be met by MLQ representatives when attending special events such as conventions:

MLQ convention and event representatives should consist of at least three to five individuals with a ratio of 1:3 as it pertains to both gender and racial representation. This ratio is meant to set a minimum. We will make an active effort to have higher representation when possible. The roles of these individuals will vary based on location and type of event. We will reevaluate this set ratio each season based on data collected from MLQ convention and event attendance.

MARKETING AND DIGITAL MEDIA DEPARTMENTS

Those that follow MLQ on social media may have noticed a smaller social footprint than normal, particularly on our Facebook. The MLQ Marketing Department made a conscious decision in June to lower the rate at which we post across platforms and within groups in order to give space to current news that takes precedence, including but not limited to Black Lives Matter-related content.

The MLQ Marketing and Digital Media Departments have revised our brand guidelines to better include people of color and promote racial diversity in addition to gender and sexual diversity. We are currently in a review process with USQ in order to determine how the two leagues can work together to better present American quidditch. The MLQ Brand Guidelines is an internal document provided to our franchises, partners, staff and volunteers that defines how MLQ should be presented in various mediums such as social media, photography, video etc. Members of the MLQ DEI Department are advising on this endeavor. 

Our marketing team has also created the skeleton for our website’s DEI page. The page will include a DEI resource library, media that can be used for promotion by any team, updates on league DEI efforts, DEI-related volunteer and athlete statistics, amongst other items. We expect to have the page live by our next update.

MLQ’s DEI Department is also working with the MLQ social media team to determine how to best highlight commemorative days and months. For Juneteenth, MLQ attempted a new, more personalized approach, highlighting Barnes and his family’s Juneteenth celebrations and reflections. Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we hope to do more takeovers similar to this one for future commemorative days and months.

And, finally, for those that follow our Boston franchise, we are in the midst of a rebrand as requested by members of the community. For those that missed our announcement, here an explanation of the issues that stem from the current team name, the Boston Night Riders: 

Gladys-Marie Fry was a Professor Emerita of Folklore and English at University of Maryland. She penned “Night Riders in Black Folk History” in July 1975. The book addresses the days after slavery in which the KKK would use the supernatural to scare and antagonize the Black population. This included various entities that would come out at night (evil spirits, body snatchers, etc.), coined, “night riders.”

Concerns have also been raised regarding the cost of replacement kits to the Boston team. New kits were already in the process of being attained in order to add Boston’s latest MLQ Championship star. Production has been halted on those kits in order to account for the branding changes. Thus, this change will not result in an added cost or burden to any of our athletes. We hope to have the updated branding finalized by mid-August. 

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

MLQ, as an organization, wants to foster a welcoming community within quidditch as well as society as a whole.

As mentioned in the DEI section of this update, we posted the key takeaways from the recent town halls. Many of these takeaways relate to experiences of Black and non-Black individuals of color across many aspects of their life. We encourage you to share the takeaways and create more racially-inclusive spaces in your social and professional realms.

We would also like to recognize the recent Non-binary Awareness Week (July 12-17). We acknowledge that even in spaces that are working on being anti-racist and eliminating discrimination against women, non-binary representation in diversity, equity and inclusion practices is nowhere near where it should be. Here are five ways to be supportive of non-binary individuals. We invite all MLQ stakeholders to take part in item four to get started: Share your pronouns to make it more routine practice in your school or workplace. We’ll be inviting our team to do so, as well.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Feel free to contact our DEI team at [email protected]. If you’d like to get involved in MLQ’s DEI department, check out our openings.